Brawling kangaroos
I have in the past posted about the matter of why kangaroos grunt. It is not uncommon to see a pair of 'roos - presumably both males - undertaking such activities out on our bald hill.
Going back into history, the boxing kangaroo was a common feature at circuses in the UK when I was a child. As noted in that article, in modern times the idea of a boxing kangaroo flag really hit its straps when Australia won the America's Cup and ran out a battle flag along the following lines.
This is now a serious (? - even I am not sure how serious) contender for the National Flag, once we get rid of the current "tug of the forelock to Mrs Windsor" atrocity.
However this morning while on a run with my mate Rob we saw the most sustained discussion of the pugilistic macropod nature I have ever viewed. As this was the first time I have tried to run 12 hilly kms for about a year I wasn't even carrying my phone, let alone a camera. (I had enough excess weight parked right behind the waistband of my shorts.)
When we came on the scene the two roos were facing off, probably about 15m from us. They paid no attention to us whatsoever but then proceeded to kick and claw the bejasus out of each other. After a few exchanges it seemed that the larger of the two was not travelling too well:
There was then a pause during which the larger beast adopted a posture more or less parallel to the ground while the smaller one stayed upright. To me this looked like submission was occurring. but when the small one sank the talons in again the large one tried, pathetically, to fight back. He earned a few more kicks to the gut for his trouble. Again the two postures signalled to me that there was a clear points decision here.
At this point we decided we couldn't avoid the evil moment of running up a hill any longer and moved off. A bit later in the run we came across a group of females with joeys in situ and, as we passed, explained the facts of life to the joeys "Uncle Jake has gone, Uncle Zack will be with you in a few moments."
Going back into history, the boxing kangaroo was a common feature at circuses in the UK when I was a child. As noted in that article, in modern times the idea of a boxing kangaroo flag really hit its straps when Australia won the America's Cup and ran out a battle flag along the following lines.
However this morning while on a run with my mate Rob we saw the most sustained discussion of the pugilistic macropod nature I have ever viewed. As this was the first time I have tried to run 12 hilly kms for about a year I wasn't even carrying my phone, let alone a camera. (I had enough excess weight parked right behind the waistband of my shorts.)
When we came on the scene the two roos were facing off, probably about 15m from us. They paid no attention to us whatsoever but then proceeded to kick and claw the bejasus out of each other. After a few exchanges it seemed that the larger of the two was not travelling too well:
- his facial fur was badly ruffled (possibly a little bloodstained) from forehand claw action; and
- he seemed to be working on the principle of "it is better to receive than give" in the matter of two footed kicks to the lower abdomen.
There was then a pause during which the larger beast adopted a posture more or less parallel to the ground while the smaller one stayed upright. To me this looked like submission was occurring. but when the small one sank the talons in again the large one tried, pathetically, to fight back. He earned a few more kicks to the gut for his trouble. Again the two postures signalled to me that there was a clear points decision here.
At this point we decided we couldn't avoid the evil moment of running up a hill any longer and moved off. A bit later in the run we came across a group of females with joeys in situ and, as we passed, explained the facts of life to the joeys "Uncle Jake has gone, Uncle Zack will be with you in a few moments."
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